Second Chances: A Lesson in Life and Love
by icicle33
Summary: After the war, Draco narrowly escapes Azkaban, but he's still required to complete two years of Ministry mandated community service. He is sentenced to work at a Muggle hospice. Guess who his boss is? Pairings: DM/HG, HG/RW, HP/LL


******Warnings/Features:****** shy!Draco, first person, Slight Angst

**Pairings**: Unrequited Draco/Hermione (for now), Ron/Hermione, Harry/Luna

******Disclaimer**:**** I do** not** own Harry Potter or any part of the HP universe. This story is written only for the purpose of enjoyment and to satisfy my own twisted obsession with the HP characters. I am not making any type of profit off this story and no copyright infringement is intended against J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic, etc and whoever else is lucky enough to own part of the HP franchise.

**Author's note:** This story was inspired by a prompt from the dramionedrabble lj community. It was meant to be a short one-shot, but I have decided to expand it into a fic. Feedback makes my day.

Enjoy.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Second Chances: A Lesson in Life and Love<strong>_

**~Part I: After the War~**

**: : :**

_Don't be nervous, you prat_. _You've talked to her a million times. She's easy to talk to and I'm Draco Malfoy for Merlin's sake. But that's not the kind of thing that will impress her and you know it. She's different than other girls. Smarter. Tougher. More Brilliant. Why would she be interested in me? Oh, it's just a stupid dance after all. Grow some bollocks and ask her already._

**: : :**

It all started a few months after the war ended.

I thought that my life was over, that I would spend the rest of my days sharing a cell with my father in Azkaban and rot away. I never imagined that I would be granted a second chance, especially not with her. But Potter being Potter and defender of all lost causes, decided that I was innocent and had been coerced into the service of the Dark Lord. He defended me at my trial, and since no one would ever dare defy the Boy-Who-Lived-To-Be-A-Pain-In-My-Arse, I was cleared of all charges and set free.

Of course, there were conditions to my release, and they included 5 years probation and ministry approved community service. Obviously, I had no say in my community service placement and was given what the ministry thought was the worst possible punishment for a former Death Eater: caring for and working with Muggles.

Initially I was horrified, not because I'm really that disgusted with Muggles, but because I had to work with Muggles who had been tortured and suffered permanent damage by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. These particular Muggles suffered from severe spell damage and psychological torture that Muggle medicine just wasn't equipped to deal with, let alone heal. These Muggles had no hopes of ever returning to the Muggle world and would slowly die from the side effects of the torture they had received. But worst of all, for most of these Muggles, it would take decades before they would die and suffering was just something they would have to endure. Needless to say, when I first heard the news, I lost my lunch.

**: : :**

I was sentenced to work at the ministry funded and wizard run Muggle hospice for 2 years. I didn't think I would survive my sentence, and in some ways, spending time in Azkaban would have been kinder. But there was nothing I could do, my sentencing was final.

I just needed to find a way to survive it, and sometimes salvation comes in the least expected of places. For me, it was a certain bushy-haired childhood enemy, who turned out to be the kindest and most compassionate person I have ever met.

My first week at the Muggle hospice was hell. I was puking after every shift, sometimes even during the shifts. I just didn't know how to deal with the Muggle patients. It's not that I was disgusted with them, not at all; it's just that, how do you look someone in the eye who even if you weren't directly responsible for torturing—you were still part of the group that did so? Trust me, it's not easy.

I was about to give up, go down to the Ministry and turn myself in, beg for another sentence, anything at all, even if it included serving time in Azkaban.

I was desperate and had no one to turn to. Both my parents were dead; my friends were either locked up in Azkaban or had fled the country. No, I was completely and utterly alone. Even at the hospice, none of the other wizards would acknowledge my presence other than to shout orders; it was as if I were a lower life form, less than human. They regarded me as I had once regarded Muggles, Mudbloods, and basically anyone who wasn't a pure-blooded or talented witch or wizard.

I was royally fucked in every way, and it's not like I didn't deserve it. I'm sure that I did, but there was one person who thought I deserved a second chance—one person who didn't seem to care about my past—Hermione Granger.

**: : :**

You can imagine my shock when one day I was waiting with all the other caretakers for assignment from the new supervisor and in walks Granger. Apparently, she was the mastermind behind this entire project, but she had been too busy with other projects to oversee the hospice herself. She claimed that while she was incredibly thankful for all the hard work from the staff so far, she was going to implement various changes that would be effective immediately, including adding more social activities for the patients.

The first task was to organise a Halloween party for the patients and residents. We were supposed to break up into various teams in order to get the event planned as quickly as possible and divide the workload. Obviously, no one wanted an ex-Death Eater on their team, so I just started cleaning the dining hall where the party was going to take place. The last thing I needed was for Granger to think I was slacking off just because no one would let me work with them.

While I was mopping up the floor as silently as possible, Granger walked over to me. I was afraid that she was going to scold me for a job poorly done; after all, the only knowledge I had about Muggle cleaning methods was the little bit I had learned during training. I really didn't feel like dealing with the condescending bitch right now, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

Granger hadn't come over to scold me; in fact, she had wanted to ask me if I could help her with the decorations. She figured that I had a lot of experience with event planning due to all the charity events my mother used to host at the manor, so she wanted my help. She even called me Draco. I was in shock. At first I was certain she was mocking me, that it was all some sort of sadistic game, but it wasn't.

I helped her plan the first Halloween party and everything went smoothly. She loved the decorations I provided. I enchanted the entire hall to look like a forest and even included certain Muggle décor that I had read were popular during Halloween, such as pumpkins and bats. Granger had been most impressed with the paper bats I charmed to fly around the room. The bats were a hit with the patients as well—although, we had to tell them they were suspended from invisible wire whatever that is.

The party was a success, and I hadn't enjoyed myself that much in years. And it was all thanks to Granger. I thought it might have been a fluke, that she was just being nice to me because I helped plan the party, but nothing changed. She continued to treat me with respect and kindness. She even concerned herself with my personal life. It was as if the past had never happened between us, as if I hadn't made her life a living hell at Hogwarts. She actually treated me like a friend, a human being, someone that was worth knowing.

It changed my entire outlook on life. And without even realising it, I slowly fell in love with her.

**: : :**

So—that's where I am now. She's no longer Granger, but Hermione—the kindest, sweetest girl I've ever met, with an inner beauty that just radiates off her and shows itself with every smile. I can't believe I never noticed it before, but I have now, and I'm not going to waste any more time.

Tomorrow is the second annual Halloween party. It's been a year since Hermione has changed my life, but she has no idea how I feel and tomorrow I'm going to tell her. But first I have to get her to agree to accompany me to the dance. It has been a rather long time since I've asked a girl out, but I'm going to try anyway. What do I have to lose?

**: : :**

"Hermione, can I talk to you for a second in private. There's something I want to ask you."

"Of course, Draco, you know you can ask me anything. What is it?" She smiled at me kindly and ushered me out into the hall.

"Well, I don't know how to say this, but I was wondering if you would go to the Halloween Ball with me?"

**To Be Contined...**

**: : :**

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> That's it for the first part. I would love to hear what you think. Do you think Hermione shares Draco's feelings too? Could she ever forgive him for his part in the war?

Thanks so much for reading.

I promise I am working on my other fics. I've written a lot recently and will be updating soon. It's just that this summer my computer died with all my files on it, and I was really upset for a while that I lost all my fics. I've finally gotten over it, and I'm ready to rewrite the lost chapters and make them better than before. Look for an update soon and a few more one-shots.

***Also**, I've recently changed my pen name from Icicle1 to **Icicle33** to match my lj name. I hope it doesn't cause any confusion.

Cheers

**~Icicle**


End file.
